The right man for the right job.
It happens in every group, someone tries to do something that is outside of their character's capabilities and it bites them in the ass. That was this meeting when our resident elven scout (read - thief) tried to take on the rooftop fleeing figure by his lonesome.
Let's look at this in total. The "enemy" can:
* move faster than normal people can run.
* capable of great leaps either through skill or spell.
* escapes the city through a display of athleticism and superior spell power.
* once outside the city wall - has some way to completely camouflage himself from detection.
And our 110 lb elven thief has:
* under 20 hp's.
* a fly potion.
When he did catch up to the mystery assailant who was revealed to be a druid, he was outclassed, outgunned, and outmatched - dying (going to -3) in a single round of summoned animal fueled combat.
This was a reminder that not everyone is capable to handling every assailant we run across.
Write up follows:
The walk around the cemetery resulted in again, no issue or problems. Maybe the teens in the area had learned their lesson? Tensions were still high in town, but there had been no further outbreaks of violence or escalation of existing issues.
The next morn was bright and sunny, the temperatures already in the low 70’s and going to get much hotter during the day. The group was going over their possible destinations for the day when a knock was heard at the door. We opened and met with Mummus O’Donnell, half-orcish traveler. We learned that he had been in Shakun for two weeks, doing business for his family, the merchant traders O’Donnell. Primarily his mission these last few months were to travel about and find out what needs to be imported in the various holdings and thorps and towns and report it back via aviary or post to his father to make future caravans more in line with what the distant holdings needed.
However, Mummus was a half-orc – the result of a dalliance of his mother and an orcish gladiator some 16-17 years ago. Which made his presence a constant embarrassment to man he referred to as father. So his “fact finding” trip was also to get the large, strong, fighter guild trained 4th son out of Argosility and away from any spot light.
Mummus wanted to join the party but after already an issue and run-in with Sheriff Westwinter, we wanted to not only talk amongst ourselves, but clear it with the magistrate. Mummus was sent to Town Hall along with Fergus to clear his stay at the Hall of Heroes and the rest of the party voted the approval to have the half-orcish fighter join (Auri was very taken with the good looking O’Donnell and spoke the most on his acceptance to the party).
Once cleared, we had a small meeting with Pelis and were talking on our next step when there was a deep rumbling, the ground shook, and a cloud of dust and grit rose from the south. The group ran, along with a number of excited citizens, eventually coming out of town and back once more to the cemetery. One of the barrows had collapsed; luckily no one was there when it happened. We joined the watch along with the Marshall and some of his deputies, also meeting with the now healthy Undertaker and his staff.
The barrow had collapsed through its center, running almost 30’ diameter, and dropped maybe 10-12’ feet from what we could tell. We helped in the investigation and one of the watch discovered a single unshod footprint in the soft earth. And its placement let us know the figure was heading into the collapsed barrow and it occurred after the collapse! No one was here, and the ruin showed no obvious holes for someone to climb or hide in.
We then made our way to the Mekarin Homestead – just down the road from the cemetery, the homestead that the bad milk had come from. We entered, no one was home. Detecting evil showed none and we saw no signs of issue or problem. The cows appeared to be ok, and Flimflam opted to talk with them. The cows hadn’t been milked this morning and were in some pain so we helped in that matter. The cows did talk of feeling poorly and also commented on the farmer’s daughter being harsh and cruel in her milking, often using her fingernails.
We left the farm and returned to the cemetery where at best could be determined, 3 bodies were missing. There should have been 27, only 24 were accounted for. The barrow was “closed” maybe 8 months ago. We did note a number of mice and rat bodies about, all dead. There were also a number of beetle carapaces about. And it was here we deduced there might be no animals in the surrounding area. A Detect Animal spell verified this, no vermin, rats, mice, or insects for hundreds of feet around this barrow.
From here we went to Tanner’s Way and looked over at the same house we had been at before, this time no wasting time just entering the place. Flimflam also got message from the contact he had made in the Way that the 3rd guy hadn’t been back and the two guys inside were smoking stolen weed. We looked over the place and found not only the stolen weed, but other things they had picked up from the Way, including a bag of ground up Hadesnium.
Crap.
We had to get rid of it and wanted to take it to the caves again to dump within. Flimflam and Fergus were going to head to the staples and get a horse, ride out an hour or so, drop it into a cave, and return home.
It was 2 PM when the rest of the party heard the sound of the watch whistle being blown. They decided to investigate and followed the cries and tweets, dismayed to find the watch chasing a single figure that was leaping FROM the Pixie Down Inn and TO our home! It ran across the roof and made a beeline for the Charcoaler.and jumped! 20’! Fist’al was furious as this seemed similar to the issue he had with his double the other day – although this figure was moving differently.
Marcus and Mummus followed the street and chased that way, while the watch was coming around the corner. Fist’al opened his bottle of “fly” and drank it down. The figure made 1 more jump from Sutor’s Forge to the edge of Tanner’s Way and then scrambled down to the street beyond. The elf and half-orc hit the alley fast and skipped through trying to catch up. Fist’al took to the air, flying forward to give chase.
The running figure was outdistancing the party and it ran faster and faster and then stuck its hands out and in front of one of the wall houses on Tanner’s Way a six count stand of birch trees burst from the ground. If gripped the tops and was lifted skyward, over the wall, and it catapulted forward and was gone!
Sonofacrap!
Fist’al pushed himself to catch up, eventually clearing the wall, and seeing…nothing! Where the hell? He flew down and after 30, 40 seconds of looking about, grit his teeth and decided the figure we was chasing might be a druid of some sort. So he took out his dagger and started slashing all the close trees and big bushes. His suspicions were correct and one of the trees morphed back into a person and the person summoned…a giant lynx!
The oversized cat clawed and bit as the elf who tried to fly away but was knocked unconscious as he drifted upward and sailed slowly over the wall. Marcus used his Chain-Rod to bring the passed out elf back down and he was then taken to the hospice as his wounds seemed very bad.
Meanwhile riding out of town, Flimflam and Fergus noticed the commotion and raced on horseback closer to help out. The gnome was knocked from the horse and Fergus continued to give chase. The figure that was there seemed to glow greenish and then transformed to a hawk and flew away before the two friends could catch him.
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